To Break the Bat, One Need Only Break the Bird
by Heroicagal
Summary: In Knightfall Alfred went to get Tim as Bane attacked Bruce who got there after his back was broken. In this story Bane decided to break Bruce another way during Knightfall.


To break the Bat would be a satisfying and dare he say contenting. To feel his enemy's crushed and battered body below him was something that he dreamed of constantly. It was all encompassing. It was why he had come to Gotham in the first place. What stopped him from doing it was the fact that he knew that if he did, another would crop up. It was like the Bat was a weed, choking the life of every individual it touched and becoming the only purpose they had. Already there were two who could just as easily take the place of Wayne: his former protégé Nightwing and the current individual who the Bat was overseeing named Azreal or Jean Paul Valley. If he broke this Bat he would have a new one to break all over again. IT would be an endless cycle.

A few years ago the Bat had nearly destroyed himself after the death of his partner and son. Bane had already admitted to the boy that Robin was something of a wild card to him. He could understand the Bat's dark drive and possessive nature, one that paralleled what fueled his own inner being. What confused him was how anyone so young and so bright in liveliness, intellect, and literal color, how an individual like this could be seen at the side of such a dark persona. The latest addition he had observed and even admired for his courage and formidability for one so small, but the truth was that as the deluded and insane clown had shown, the best way to break a Bat was to destroy his Robin. After observing their relationship Bane now was able to understand only this: Batman needed the boy far more than he did him. It was almost a cruel irony that one so once independent had become so small and so attached to such a fragile thing.

And so he waited with the mentor as the butler went to fetch help in the form of the protégé. The boy came as he knew he would, he had witnessed their camaraderie and mutual attachment. The newest Robin didn't know it, but he had a place in a heart of stone and that was his unfortunate luck. As Robin struggled against his formidable bulk Bane tried not to feel annoyed at how easy this would be. The Bat stirred and noticed the fighting Bird and complete and total panic entered his expression, something like he had never seen on the stoic face before. As Batman called for Robin to run, he was distracted by the panic in his voice, leaving himself wide open for the taking.

Bane grabbed the boy and hit him hard upon the skull. He moaned and fell even as the mentor tried to make his uncompliant limbs stir and aid the young man. With a savage satisfaction he gave him an almost feral grin and adrenaline rushed through him to see the anguish already welling in the supposed stone cold eyes. He grabbed the boy and in a moment of ecstasy he snapped his frail spine like a twig. The Bat roared as Robin fell and gave a small whimper that reflected just how young he truly was. As the Bat screamed his name over and over Bane knew he had destroyed the Batman heart and soul. He had no further need to be in the Manor.

As he left the man holding the battered, broken, and bleeding Bird, never to fly again, he heard only anguished cries and entreaties. The most prominent and loudest one being that which to anyone else would be heart breaking when spoken in such utter despair and sorrow : "_**Not again.**_"

**_A/N I was recently reading Knightfall and the scene where Bruce was broken by Bane led to this one shot combined with the many Jason death references. Bruce beat the snot out of the Joker after the fear gas made him relive what he imagined it to be and this helped male me think: "What if Bane wanted to break more than Bruce's back? What if he broke part of his soul?" "A Lonely Place of Dying" which introduced Tim showed exactly how much Batman needed a Robin. If Bane was smart enough to see who Bruce was from just a look, he surely was able to see what mattered to him. Poor Tim got his back broken as a result of my awful imagination. You can decide whether he lived to remain paralyzed or died, but the result is the same. Robin isn't flying anymore. _**


End file.
